Morning Joe again took to the airwaves Tuesday morning to condemn President Trump's national emergency declaration and Republicans as hypocrites for supporting it.
The segment started with the morning show citing a Washington Post op-ed by North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis announcing his opposition to the emergency declaration signed to secure the U.S. southern border with Meixo. Tillis' op-ed notwithstanding, co-host Joe Scarborough dennounced Republicans as "raging hypocrites" for "going crazy over President Obama's executive orders," but not Trump's.
In citing Tillis and other GOP reservation or opposition, Morning Joe unwittingly undermined their point, given the lack of Democratic condemnation of Obama's executive overreach. Morning Joe itself routinely looked the other way when Obama overstepped his authority.
Co-host Willie Geist lobbied Republicans who announced opposition to prove it, calling Tillis' move as a "small victory."
Scarborough then brought on Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, patting her, himself, and "other conservatives" on the back for not, "bowing down to Donald Trump." He skipped the fact that The Post has removed any reference to conservatism from Rubin's articles and Morning Joe's past fawning support for Trump.
Rubin stated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sounded like Republicans used to on the Constitution. She said that, "They don't believe in controlling the debt, they don't believe in human rights, they have become a cult and simply follow Donald Trump," she declared. As if the party of Medicare For All and that voted down the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act does.
Geist, at least said Republicans were right to oppose Obama, but he, like the rest of the panel could not bring himself to remember images of Democrats applauding Obama's use of a pen and phone.
Later, in the second hour, Morning Joe did not confront former Missouri Senator and MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill on the subject when she said that the vote in the Senate would be "a vote on the Constitution" itself. Likewise, in the third hour, Morning Joe could not find it within themselves to ask Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, who introduced the measure in the House to block the President's emergency declaration, about the precedent Obama set.
Morning Joe loves to talk Republican hypocrisy, but even more widespread hypocrisy within the Democratic Party is ignored.
Here is a transcript for the February 26 show:
MSNBC
Morning Joe
6:34 AM ET
JOE SCARBOROUGH Willie, this is such a clear constitutional violation of Article I powers and the power of the checkbook, the power of the purse is given to Congress and it breaches that. It undermines the legislative branch's constitutional powers and it paves the way to a more imperial, even more imperial presidency. Plus it makes these Republicans who are going crazy over President Obama's executive orders look raging hypocrites when they stand by on an even more extreme measure.
WILLIE GEIST: A declaration of a national majority supported by Mitch McConnell, who went on the floor and said, “I will support the President declaring this.” There were so many, a long list actually Jane of Republican Senators, who came out before hand over the last couple months when this just floated the idea and said, “I'm against a declaration of a national emergency.” They're going to get a chance to vote on whether or not they actually meant that, now that the President has declared that. We take our small victories these days, our small profiles in courage, but Tom Tillis is running, he’s up again next year in a North Carolina state that President Trump won, coming out against the national emergency, we'll see how he votes and we’ll how other Republicans vote once it clears the House and moves to the Senate.
…
SCARBOROUGH: You know Jennifer, you, and myself, and other conservatives, former Republicans at least… We have criticized Republicans so much for bowing down to Donald Trump, but I do have to say this is such a bright, obviously bright line to cross that if you vote for this national emergency, never, ever raise the Constitution again and pretend you are a defender of it because this is a clear violation.JENNIFER RUBIN: Absolutely. This is not a hard one. You don’t have to be a law student or lawyer to figure this one out. Listening to Nancy Pelosi yesterday introducing the measure and speaking about the separations of powers and importance of our Constitution, she sounded like Republicans used to talk but of course Republicans don't talk that way anymore. They don't seem to stand up for the Constitution, as Jane said, they don't defend the defense budget. What happened to our national security hawks? Where is Tom Cotton when you need him? They don’t believe in controlling the debt, they don’t believe in human rights, they have become a cult and they simply follow Donald Trump wherever he meanders through the dessert, following him, making excuses for him, enabling him, and it really is a moment for choosing, it really is a defining moment for the party and for these individuals.
…GEIST: We could go back and play, as we have on this show, the criticisms of executive overreach just in the last administration by Republicans of Barack Obama, and they were right in many of those cases. But as you say, it's brought up tongue in cheek sometimes, but if you let this out, if you open Pandora’s Box and you support this and you go on the record with a Senate vote after it clears the House, what is stopping the next Democratic President and the Trump years will end at am son and there will be another Democratic President who will do exactly what you just laid out. They believe climate change is an actual national emergency, and so, what will they do? They can go in and shutdown coal-fired plants, they can do things they want to do because they view a real emergency. If we give this power to the Presidency of the United States to use the national emergency willy-nilly, we are crossing a line that this country does not want to cross.
